Sir Ian McKellen is in Wellington to shoot the final scenes of The Hobbit.

Director Sir Peter Jackson this morning posted a photo of himself with McKellen on Facebook. ''Back on set for our last Hobbit pick ups,'' he wrote.

''Our last ever Tolkien pick ups, in fact. It's going to be an intense few weeks, but we're looking forward to shooting some powerful scenes with our great cast.''

Jackson also promised a blog post was coming soon.

The Dominion Post yesterday reported that actors involved with The Hobbit movie trilogy have returned to Wellington from around the world to film more scenes for the final two movies in the trilogy.

Work is expected to last about 10 weeks at the Stone St studio complex in Miramar.

The second movie of the trilogy, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, is due to be released in December, with the final instalment, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, pencilled in for release in late 2014.